U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,455 entitled "Rating Plug for Molded Case Circuit Breaker" describes the use of a removable rating plug enclosure that contains the rating resistor to establish the circuit breaker ampere rating. The rating plug enclosure is arranged to allow direct connection between the rating resistor and the trip unit circuit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,914 entitled "Rating Plug Enclosure for Molded Case Circuit Breakers", U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,091 entitled "Molded Case Circuit Interrupter Rating Plug Keying and Interlock Arrangement", and U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,798 entitled "Metering Accessory for Molded Case Circuit Breakers" each describe rating plugs that interact with the circuit breaker trip unit for various functions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,055 entitled "Ground Fault Protective Device" describes a ground fault circuit interrupter that employs a rating plug to set the ground fault interruption rating.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,457 entitled "Processor Controlled Circuit Breaker Trip System Having an Intelligent Rating Plug" describes a rating plug for setting the circuit breaker ampere rating in an electronic trip unit having dedicated ground fault interruption facility.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,086 entitled "Plug-ill Ground Fault Monitor for a Circuit Breaker" describes a circuit breaker electronic trip unit that is configured for ground fault interruption by means of a ground fault monitor module that includes switches and a display.
Circuit breakers currently employing rating plug receptacles generally have ground fault facility within the operating firmware. Since some circuit breaker applications do not require ground fault protection, it would be advantageous to the user to select whether the ground fault function should be initiated or not.
One purpose of the invention is to provide a standard circuit breaker rating plug receptacle on the cover of a circuit breaker that allows the operator to select whether ground fault function should be initiated within the circuit breaker trip unit.